Communications Plan: The Gunnar Project

December 17, 2015

Kaylen Borseth, Brooke Gestson, Jessica Goff, Jessie Lundberg, Morgan Mogler

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Overview / Research

The Gunnar Project: Background

The Gunnar Project was started by Marc Miller after tragically losing his 19 year old son,

Gunnar. He was out skateboarding with friends when he grabbed on to his friend's car,

telling them to take off. Gunnar lost control seconds later and

landed on his head (without a helmet), later passing away in

the emergency room. Although Gunnar was a fun loving guy he

struggled with addiction in the past and was celebrating 14

months of sobriety before he passed. He had a job interview

planned later that day and planned to go to college.

Marc chose happiness as the focus to the project because after

Gunnar passed he was overwhelmed with people telling him

and his wife how much happiness Gunnar put in their lives. We only get one life so being

happy for it is important and The Gunnar project wants to help people through the journey

to whole happiness.

Media Reviews

Since the project is still very new the founders are still trying to spread awareness of the

organization. The Gunnar Project has been featured in the Pioneer Press to share what the

organization is and what they are trying to accomplish. The article goes into great detail

about the whole organization. It talks about Gunnar and his story, why the organization

chooses to focus on happiness, and to really understand the importance of life. Recently the

Gunnar Project was also featured on WCCO’s Life to the Max segment. The story was

covered on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 at the University of Wisconsin River Falls, and

aired on Saturday, November 28, 2015. The Marketing Communications club asked Marc to

visit and share with the club and students about his organization. On top of that the club

also participated in creating the bracelets that will later be distributed to people who

would like to participate and share happiness.

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Project Happiness: Background

Project Happiness was founded by Randy Taran, a mother

who was struggling to find a solution for her child’s

depression. She began wondering how other young

people were coping with similar situations. The project

entails having color-themed days that inspire happiness

habits such as : Mindful Monday, Grati-Tuesday, Wellness Wednesday, Thoughtful

Thursday, Friday Freedom, Social Saturday, and Soulful Sunday.

A film was also created to show three kids from different countries on a quest to find

happiness and interviewed people such as George Lucas, Richard Gere, neuroscientist

Richard Davidson, and XIV Dalai Lama. This later lead to a happiness handbook developed

by Project Happiness which is now available in 57 countries.

Media Reviews

Media coverage for this organization is sparse as it is now mostly promoted through social

media activity. Yes! Magazine recommended the project and its mission for happiness in

addition to a student newspaper from University of Southern California, The Daily Trojan, expressing good feelings for the idea of a quest for happiness. The paper also commented

on how the project outlines the different means to achieve happiness, saying that it was

awesome and inspiring after interviews with some of the project leaders. However there

was also some criticism placed on the execution of the film and statistics presented that the

fim as less likable and more disconnected. Other criticism also addressed that some of the

speakers chosen to be interviewed had an unrecognizable connection to happiness.

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation: Background

The program was created in 1955 as a nonprofit organization. The Random Acts of

Kindness Foundation provides materials for free through their website to offer kind

actions, ideas for educators, activities/lesson plans,

inspirational quotes, videos, and other resources for

people to do with their “random acts.” Ten schools

within the Wisconsin system now have these kindness

curriculums built into their school year. The program

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also offers roles of ambassadors that come and individually start programs subject to

specific schools.

Media Reviews

Similar to the previously stated project, there were not many reviews on the subject. The

Huffington Post did a review of Random Acts of Kindness that suggested that they liked the

idea but had a few dislikes and questions. The paper’s expressed that the idea itself was

helpful but could not understand how “random” acts are. Instead, acts of kindness should

be collective and frequent because random acts would not benefit or fulfill us. Their

question was, how do you track these behaviors? The acts of kindness are hard to log and

keep track of.

Love Your Melon: Background

Love Your Melon was founded on October 22nd, 2012 by a group of two college students

who were attending the University of St. Thomas In St. Paul, Minnesota. They created the

idea of the organization in an entrepreneurship class as sophomores at the university. It

was a simple concept of putting a hat on every child battling cancer in America. Love Your

Melon has reserved more than 45,000 hats to donate to children

battling cancer in the United States using its original buy one give one

program. The organization has recently reached its original goal of

giving a hat to every child battling cancer. They have now expanded

and have partnered with the Pinky Swear Foundation to provide

immediate support for children battling cancer and with CureSearch

for children's cancer to fund research to help beat childhood cancer.

The organization also has an ambassador program that help sell and

spread the word about the organization. It is called Love Your Melon Ambassadors. They

are responsible for spreading the mission of the organization in their own city. there are

more than 2,500 college students at over 225 different schools to sell and donate hats.

These are also the ones who are responsible for distributing the hats to the kids in the

hospitals.

Media Reviews

As Love Your Melon continues to expand the news coverage continues to grow. The Today

show covered a special on love your melon called “hope to it.” it was shown on February

18, 2014. This was one of Love Your Melons first major coverage about the organization

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nation-wide. The coverage talked all about how the organization was founded and really

what the purposed of the organization was. Helping Love Your Melon continue to spread

awareness to everyone everywhere.

Analysis

Communication Objectives

1. To receive 1,000 visits to the Gunnar Project website within a year of the website

launch.

2. To establish an ambassador program within 5-10 universities/colleges across the

Minnesota and Wisconsin school systems.

3. To increase social media following on Instagram to 300 followers to build

awareness about the Gunnar Project.

Stakeholders/Audiences

The Gunnar Project will reach a variety of groups. The main target audience is young adults

ages 18-24, specifically those showing signs of addiction, depression, or who are simply

struggling with finding the means to achieve happiness. College students will be the

primary focus within this age group because they are the people who are continually

affected every day with negative images and feedback from the world around them. Mass

media has a habit of telling young people that they aren’t skinny, pretty, or even smart

enough in addition to a myriad of other things that cause us to lose sight of what real

happiness should be. If we are given the opportunity to share with them the simple story of

what the Gunnar Project stands for and how they can take part in the idea of whole

happiness, they will spread it like wildfire. College students have possibly the most

valuable power to share the story through social media platforms, face-to-face experiences,

and word of mouth. These young adults are also more likely to be very passionate about

spreading awareness and advocating for the cause. College is also a tricky time for a lot of

people at this age - it’s easy to forget about the little things in life with piles of homework,

projects, deadlines, and exams looming over students’ heads. However, once they learn to

stop and take a moment to experience real happiness at least once a day there is a

possibility for a huge weight to be lifted off of their shoulders, and maybe for those around

them as well. College students will most positively benefit from the message of the Gunnar

Project, and will share it with others because of that positive experience.

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SWOT Analysis Strengths

The Gunnar Project is comprised of several strengths as a developing organization. First,

the message and goal of The Gunnar Project is relevant to the audience targeted. Happiness

is a positive message to share, and is a concept that the target audience is well aware of. In

fact, a common life goal is find happiness and/or to be happy. The positive of this point is

that The Gunnar Project is not attempting share an entirely new concept or goal to the

world. Not only is the message relevant, but the message will be reaching a large and

diverse group of people. There are colleges all over the country, and world, comprised of

people all with different life experiences and stories. The number of people in the target

audience will only continue to grow, especially when college students get a hold of the

concept for The GP. Secondly, the story behind The Gunnar Project and successes of the

organization thus far are human interest stories. This means that the organization itself

and reason behind the organization are engaging. Sharing happiness in honor of a young

man’s ability to share the same effortlessly is truly inspiring. The target audience will want

to be a part of the organization and its positive efforts. Tied to the engaging aspect of The

Gunnar Project, Marc has a vision of where he hopes the organization will go in the future.

This is a strength of The GP because it allows Marc to set goals and strive for those goals

through interacting with college students and student programs. An engaging element of

The Gunnar Project is the bracelets made by students. Contributing a physical thing

through a hands-on experience gives students a feel-good attitude, establishing a positive

perception of The GP. Besides the bracelets, Marc has made it his mission to be as involved

as possible. This means he travels to different schools to interact face-to-face with students

to share his message and The Gunnar Project. Interactions in person make the experiences

more personal therefore resonating with students on a deeper level than that over email or

phone. Marc is directly and actively involved with The Gunnar Project which is a great

strength for the organization. Finally, the website is a strength of The Gunnar Project. All of

the people reached through the organization will connect through one site where stories

and examples of happiness will be shared. The site will be interactive, creating a more

engaging experience for visitors on the site.

Weaknesses

There are weaknesses that The Gunnar Project faces. One of the weaknesses the project

holds is the ability to communicate with the desired audience. Marc wants to limit the use

of social media so people aren’t wrapped up in the social world while contributing to The

GP. This causes a conflict of easy and fast advertising that could be done on social media

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websites. This could really hinder the organization's success by missing a huge potential

market to communicate to. The website for the organization is still not running yet. Until

the site is working it will be somewhat challenging to spread the word about the Gunnar

Project. The organization is still new, and people need a website to visit to learn more

about the organization and what it stands for. Without the website there will not be a place

to reference people so that they can learn about The Gunnar Project. While the use of the

bracelets is a strength, a weakness is attached to the concept. There is currently no

universal logo or tag that is being put on the bracelets. For a student to recognize that the

bracelet is a happiness tracker bracelet, he or she needs to associate the object with a logo.

There needs to be a universal logo that is put on the bracelets so that everyone recognizes

it. Since the organization is so new and are just starting out they face several weaknesses to

face and overcome in order to be successful.

Opportunities

There are many opportunities for The Gunnar Project to grow and be successful with our

communications plan. Throughout Minnesota there are over 90 colleges and universities

for The Gunnar Project to create ambassador programs in as well as 70 colleges and

universities across Wisconsin. The Gunnar Project’s ambassador program can be created as

a club within the Minnesota and Wisconsin school systems to then build awareness of the

project across individual campuses. For example, Love Your Melon has become a very

popular organization not only within UW-River Falls but across the campuses in Minnesota

and Wisconsin. Unfortunately, their program limits the number of people who can be

actively involved. College students are excited to help a cause that is close to their hearts

but the Love Your Melon only allows 30 people per campus to be involved per ambassador

program. These students that are being turned away from this particular organization have

a passion that could be put into The Gunnar Project. They simply need the opportunity to

be a part of the project and would gladly join a cause that is very relatable to where they

are in their own lives. The Gunnar Project uses a couple of different outlets to spread

happiness but one particular idea was to create videos of people displaying and explaining

their own ways of finding happiness. We believe this could be an effective way to create

awareness of the project and their mission through the sharing, liking, and creating of these

“happiness videos.” Content on the internet spreads quickly and can intrigue people to click

on the video to hear what they have to say. In correlation with those efforts, Zubaz has

become a part of The Gunnar Project and have over 11,000 likes on their Facebook page.

Utilizing their social media outlets to create awareness of The Gunnar Project’s mission

could greatly increase following and knowledge of The Gunnar Project.

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Threats

The Gunnar Project has many aspects that could potentially threaten their success. It could

prove very difficult to get The Gunnar‘s name out to people and to be popular with other

popular non-profits already thriving. Organizations like Love Your Melon that have sold

over 45,000 hats and are well known might step on The Gunnar Project’s small following.

There are also other organizations that have to do with happiness, like Project Happiness

and Random Acts. Setting themselves apart from those other non-profits could be a

challenge. The Gunnar Project has to be able to be something that really catches the

attention of potential supports and show these audiences why they are different. They need

to be able to cut through the clutter of the other organizations to show that this group is

making a difference. When someone searches “happiness” on Google there are 401,000,000

findings that come up. Happiness isn’t a black and white topic that can be “sold” and it

means something different to everyone. Finding a balance of content that everyone can

relate to and connect with could be difficult. Marc mentioned that he didn’t want to be on

too many social media platforms which could actually be a threat. Looking at Love Your

Melon they have a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube account. Using the social

media world to get a message across is crucial in this time period as it’s how people find

new things to share with others. Having a cool website won’t cut it. Having a strong voice

on social media could eliminate a lot of the threats and make the completion level lower

with other organizations. If the Gunnar project hides from social media they could get lost

in the shadows.

Communication

Key Messages

1. The Gunnar Project connects the world to a whole happiness

2. Create a happier world through The Gunnar Project

3. The Gunnar Project proves that happiness is not a destination, but a way of life

4. The Gunnar Project: leading the pursuit of happiness by turning the little things into

big moments.

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Strategies 1. Social Media Strategy

Joining and actively posting on social media is a great way to spread awareness and

connect with people who follow the pages. The Gunnar Project’s purpose is to spread

happiness and make people aware of the idea of whole happiness. Social media is an easy

and inexpensive way to spread the word. Social media platforms would also be an effective

way to display the happiness videos The Gunnar Project encourages people to create. These

videos can be shared on the account’s feed to remind people of the main goal of the project,

to seek happiness, when they forget to remind themselves. Gaining followers on social

media will make it easier to get details about events and build a Gunnar Project community.

Since our target audience is more young adults the social media world is an important way

to reach that audience.

1.1 Social Media Tactics

● Utilize our partner brand with Zubaz to obtain their followers to help create

awareness of The Gunnar Project. Zubaz following base includes: 11,000 likes on FB,

4,000 followers on Twitter, 400 followers on Instagram. If The Gunnar Project

expands to people who already follow Zubaz it will be an easy resource to help

spread awareness.

● Use connections with other partners and sponsorships to trade and give incentive

for marketing and awareness across each other’s social media platforms. Sponsors

and partners who share information on the Gunnar Project on their own social

media will guide their established audience to the project and vice versa as the

project shares information about the partners.

● Social media contests: Like and share posts from the Facebook page for prizes such

as Happiness Tracker Bracelets for your friends (or Gunnar Project t-shirts?), create

a post about your “happy place” that encourages followers to learn more about

these “happy places” through your videos on the website (drive website visits).

● Paid social media advertising is also a great way to reach a wider audience on social

media such as Facebook. Facebook ads allow users to target audiences based on

their location, age, interests, and even more than that. The program will also send

updates on ad performance and how the budget is being spent whether it is a daily

amount or for the entire campaign. These ads also make it very easy to measure the

results.

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2. Media Relations Strategy

Media advisories and press releases are important to promote the events to the media to

get coverage. Having a written explanation of the project's goals and message will get

people interested in the project and the events that go along with it. Making sure the media

is aware of events will gain more press coverage which is important to get more people to

join the project. However, The Gunnar Project first needs to have newsworthy events to be

able to get the attention of the press. Things to send to the media would be the website

launch, first ambassador organization on a college campus, or organized events including

bracelet making or video viewing. After grabbing their attention keeping a relationship

with the media is important for further coverage.

2.1 Media Relations Tactics

● Develop media advisories for ambassador program launches or any other mile

markers such as bracelet making get-togethers or Happiness Workshops. Media

advisories are essentially an invitation to different press junkets to attend the

events.

● Send out press releases about the project’s mission, the bracelet’s meaning with

photos of people wearing them around the city, when they begin producing

happiness videos, when the website launches, and when and where happiness mobs

will be meeting.

● Allow media to do personal interviews with the founders, Marc and Ann Miller,

Gunnar’s friends, and members of the ambassador programs for the media to obtain

quotes, personal statements, and insight into the making of The Gunnar Project.

● Create a relationship with the media by producing newsworthy stories to gain their

attention and have them continue to report on The Gunnar Project’s progress.

3. Awareness Strategy

Awareness is key to any successful organization. Letting people know what The Gunnar

Project is all about and what whole happiness means is the goal of this strategy. Using local

companies and sponsors to help let their customers know that this project is out there,

gaining their followers. Also included with the bracelets will cards attached with brief

description of the organization and mission associated with the bracelets. The cards will

ensure the understanding of the organization to all who receive the bracelets.. The Gunnar

Project should also promote their happiness videos in order to let people know what they

should include and how to submit the video to The Gunnar Project website.

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3.1 Awareness Tactics

● To help create awareness of The Gunnar Project we will create campaigns to share

with our target. These campaigns will help spread awareness of the organization

and share information about the project to our target audience. We will use posts on

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and articles to share awareness with our target

audience.

● Establish ambassador programs to have an active role within their campus

communities to make more personal connections with college students, set up

tables in the commons area to promote happiness tracker bracelets, happiness

videos, and participation with The Gunnar Project.

● We want the organization to have a positive relationship with communities. To help

spread awareness within the community The Gunnar Project could create

partnerships with businesses. By creating this partnership the awareness of The

Gunnar Project will increase quickly within the community. The Gunnar Project will

also have close ties with these businesses.

● Create relationships with local businesses or organizations to spread awareness

about The Gunnar Project through their customers/followers and in turn promote

their business or associate the organization with The Gunnar Project.

● Include a tag on the bracelet explaining how the bracelet and the trackers work, the

“pay it forward” strategy the bracelets use and how to replace it.

● Work with organizations such as Freedom from Fear which provides resources for

people battling with anxiety and depression to work towards the common goal of

promoting happiness within people’s lives.

● Another way to help spread awareness is though ambassador programs on college

campuses. These programs on college campuses will help us share about our

organization and its objectives with students.

● Happiness Mobs would spread awareness. An ambassador group would organize a

community service trip and help make community members happy as well as

themselves through public displays of happiness to encourage others to join and

learn more about The Gunnar Project and their mission.

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Action (Tactics)

Strategy Tactic

Website ·      Involve and engage the audience with spreading happiness with one another by adding videos ·      A place to send people to explain the organization (Why it was made and the purpose) Goal: Reach 1,000 contributors

University Involvement ·      Create ambassador program so that students are able to spread awareness of the organization through campus ·      Hold an annual happiness retreat where the ambassadors are required to be involved and others are welcome to join ·      Pass the pies event

Community Involvement ·      Happiness mob- act of community service that ambassadors put on allowing community members to get involved and make a difference. ·      Bracelet making day- letting everyone make bracelets and then pass them out to community member

Social Media Strategy · Gain more followers and create awareness through promotions of The Gunnar Project on Zubaz social media platforms

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· Create social media contests to inspire user generated content that can involve the “happiness tracker” bracelets or the happiness videos ·Paid social media advertising to be a suggested page or event for users in our target audience

Budget

Item Cost

Facebook Ad $1-2 a day for FB ads, $365-$730 a year

T-shirt $12 to create shirts, sell to public for $15, and give t-shirt to crew members

Zubaz $20 per zubaz with GP logo

Post Cards $63 for 300 good quality bracelet tags

Launching events (ambassador programs)

$50 dollars per ambassador program launch (if created as a club within the university the school will fund other expenses)

Miscellaneous Items

$63 for 300 bracelet tags $16 for 20X42 poster $19 for 30X42 poster $27 per customized table runner $.19 for 4X6 colored photo

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Evaluation

When determining if our campaign has been successful or not we had to look at certain

aspects of the campaign. We can use the communications objectives we created for this

campaign to help determine if this campaign has achieved its goals. For each of these

different goals all we have to do is look at the current number in each of these categories

and then at the end of the campaign record the number. This will allow us to determine if

we have fully reached our campaign objectives. Here are the specific examples of how we

will use our objectives to determine whether or not our campaign has reached its goals.

● From one year from when the website is launched we will see if we have reached

the goal of 1,000 people contributing to The Gunnar Project website. We will be able

to measure this according to how many people contribute to the page from when

our campaign starts to the following year after the campaign. By seeing the number

of contributors of the page we will be able to determine if we have achieved our

goal.

● We will be able to determine if we have reached the goal of reaching out to our

ambassador program to 5 to 10 schools according to the number of schools who

contact The Gunnar Project. Once schools contact The Gunnar Project asking how to

get involved and create an ambassador program we will be able to track the

different schools that are involved. This also allows the organization to be able to

keep in contact and communicate with all of the ambassador programs very easily

and efficiently.

● We plan to increase our social media by the end of the campaign. The way we are

going to determine if we have increased our social media following base is by seeing

how much our following base has increased. Before the campaign begins we will

make note of the number of people that follow The Gunnar Project on Facebook,

Twitter, and Instagram. Then once the campaign is at the end we will be able to look

at both numbers of the beginning and the end of the campaign to determine

whether or not we have hit our social media goals.

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